Global Warming: The Real Fairy Tale

China's CO2 emissions are 2x the U.S. (visual capitalist)

Earlier this week 16-year-old Swede Greta Thunberg gave an impassioned speech about climate change to the United Nations.

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words and yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

A cursory look at the data shows that China's CO2 production, nearly double that of the U.S., is increasing while in the U.S. it’s going down.

India, with half the emissions and 4x the population of the U.S., is on an even steeper trajectory. The math is simple but daunting; if India's carbon emissions rise to 8 tons per person per year (half the U.S. level) India's total annual CO2 will be roughly equal to China's. In India today many millions are without running water and basic sanitation.

With all due respect, Ms. Thunberg, improving the economies of the two Asian giants to a basic health and welfare standard without increasing carbon output is the real fairy tale.